September 3, 2011 12:24 am

Let’s start with the bad news. The Seattle Seahawks did not escape the game unscathed, with offensive guard Robert Gallery and defensive tackle Jimmy Wilkerson suffering knee sprains that will leave their availability in doubt for the season opener at San Francisco.

“Robert Gallery and Jimmy both had knee sprains, and we’ll know more when we see the MRIs tomorrow,” Seattle head coach Pete Carroll said. “They are significant enough where we have to be concerned about next week for these guys, then we’ll know.”

Fullback Dorson Boyce also suffered a shoulder stinger, but should be okay.

Carroll overall was pleased with his team’s ability to protect the quarterback today, with Seattle giving up just one sack, which was more Charlie Whitehurst’s fault than the offensive line.

James Carpenter and Breno Giacomini alternated at right tackle throughout the game, and Carroll said the competition for who will start at right tackle will go all the way up until game time next week.

“Both those guys can play,” Carroll said. “It’s not that they can’t play, and we have a problem. We don’t have a problem. It’s how far has James come? It’s been extraordinarily hard to have him do this in just one camp’s time. He’s going against the best guys that we can throw him against. We evaluate, and we know he’s getting better.”

The Seahawks also got some good news. Left tackle Russell Okung worked with the second unit during pre-game and appears ready to play against San Francisco.

“We worked him hard in pregame,” Carroll said. “Russell has taken snaps in practice the last two days. He looks fine. He could have played tonight, and it was just, let’s not do it. Why do it here? He was dying to get into this game. He wanted to play and wanted to get out there.”

With time, starting quarterback Tarvaris Jackson looked better, finishing 5 for 7 for 88 yards and an interception in two series to open the game.

Jackson made a bad decision in trying to force a ball to Golden Tate in the end zone, but other than that he was pretty efficient.

“We found a rhythm today,” Jackson said. “We were able to gain some confidence. I think as a first unit, I think we did a pretty good job expect for that interception I had.”

* Golden Tate was the offensive star of the game, finishing with five receptions for 79 yards. Tate also had a kick return for 34 yards, and a punt return for 43 yards.

With Sidney Rice (shoulder), Mike Williams (toe) and Ben Obomanu (head) out, Tate became the focal point of the passing game.

“I thought Golden Tate had a really good ball game for us,” Carroll said. “It was great to see him really have to be the focal point guy. We sat the other three receivers, so Golden had a really good call that it was going to be him. And he made some big plays in the kicking game and did the kinds of things that we’ve seen him do in practice so much. So it was really fun to see him go play some ball.”

Said Tate: “There were some plays that I wish I could have back, but it was good. I felt like I was playing football tonight. I think I got away from the game and having fun, so I had fun today, made some plays. The coaches threw me the ball some. The quarterbacks – I felt like I was a target today. Overall, I’m not satisfied, but I’m content with the performance.”

* Leon Washington had a weird play for a 32-yard reception that set up Thomas Clayton’s 1-yard touchdown run. Charlie Whitehurst’s pass to Golden Tate was deflected by Oakland defensive back Joe Porter, but Washington gathered in the deflection on the run for a big gain.

“Somebody called it the Immaculate Conception, but I think it’s more like the Immaculate Reception,” Carroll said about the play. “That was own version tonight by Leon Washington – that was a terrific play. We kind of needed a little something then, and Leon came up with a little magic.”

*Carroll discussed the three pass interference penalties his young corners got today, chalking them up to his guys playing aggressive more so than using poor technique.

The Seahawks were penalized nine times for 105 yards.

“That’s not a bad thing for me to see right now,” Carroll said. “I like that they were challenging so much tonight, but we need to fix some things up of course.”

* Carroll said that he’s uncertain if Sidney Rice (shoulder) will be ready to play in Week 1. “Sidney’s shoulder is still sore,” Carroll said. “We don’t know about that yet. He made a lot of improvement in the last couple of days already, so we’ll be watching that day to day.”

* Running back Marshawn Lynch (ankle), Mike Williams (toe) and David Hawthorne (knee) are expected to be healthy and ready to play against San Francisco after sitting out Friday’s game against Oakland.

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Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

Sucks about Gallery, he looked pretty good tonight, had a wicked cut block on Forsett’s screen. Hope he recovers quickly.

Anyone else like Durham a lot? Tate was the star of the show but Durham impressed me a lot, great thinking by Schneider/Carroll to pick this guy as quality insurance for Rice and BMW in case they get injured. Durham was overshadowed by AJ Green at Georgia but was a good player all the same with tons of potential.

Bad news for Big Rob Gallery and Jim Wills.Two old players who we could have used.Good this g the coaching staff has brought depth along the line so I’m not overly worried unless they slid Tyler Polombus in at LG which I clearly doubt.Mqiston or however you say his name is a good back up and knows Cable’s system.

I also am now Richard Sherman’s biggest fan!He never gets beat off the line and is a big,physical corner who can run.He and Maxwell are two really good players.I’m with Duke.I’ll say by the end of this year and start of next year our secondary will be one of the best in the league.

The Wilkerson and Gallery injuries are worrisome in more ways than just how long they might be out.

With final cutdowns today and both guys slated to make the final roster we now have to consider the severity of the injury, how long they could be out and the fact that the team may have to keep an additional player at the position.

This means that some other position will lose a spot and a deserving player may be cut to carry an extra D and O lineman.

1. “Mental Midget Curry” looked good tonight but the biggest surprise he didn’t make any stupid penalties. I hope he’s learning to contain himself after the whistle.

2. Tate finally woke up but unfotunately it took his butt being on the line to motivate him. While I hope it continues, I doubt it will and I wish we’d wrap him up with a pick and trade him for another good o-lineman.

3. Maybe we take the plunge and sign that center from the Cowbys (forget his name atm). Then we move Unger to left guard. Once gallery is healed we’ll have a good dilema on our hands!

4. T-jack….while he looked better you can still see that his downfield vision is sorely lacking. He’s terrible at his progressions and tends to hone in on one person, allowing the d-backs to read his eyes and react in time to make a play. Endzone interception is a good case in point. T-jack would benefit highly by using a tinted face shield.

It’s surprising about Gallery. Given his recent history, I assumed that he would start 16 games.

Jackson with a stupid throw. Never seen that before.

Good to see Carpenter not look so bad. If he would have had all of his OTAs and had a preseason like he’s had, I’d be a lot more worried. But it was nice to see a somewhat decent performance last night.

Nice to see Golden start looking like I’ve always thought he should look. Whoever our QB is next year is really going to have some fun options to throw to next year to go along with our young OL having a year to gel.

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